Welcome to my blog! This space is a chance to share in my travels and ministry and for me to share some of my thoughts and concerns as a Franciscan and as Minister General of Society of St. Francis with you. These are reflections of a modern friar on the road. Look for prayers and other items of inspiration as they move me.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

We have had quite a busy few days: and Chaper is not even half over. Here we are all pictured with the Bishop of Long Island after Mass on Friday

One of the first things we did was to welcome our new novice, Br. James-Paul

Sister Jean, Minister Provincial of CSF spent a couple hours knotting the new ropes for the four brothers who were professed today.

At noon today, Br. Jude, the Minister Provincial of the Province of the Americas opened the liturgy where we professed four brothers; it has been many years since we professed four men at once.

From right to left, we professed Brother James, Brother Maximilian Kolbe, Brother Ambrose Cristobal, and Brother Simon. Pictured at the far left of the photo is Brother Jacob, one of our first year novices.

Here the Brothers are signing the documentation of the vows they have made.

Following the Profession (with an amazing sermon by Br. Richaard Jonathan the Novice Guardian, we all went upstairs for a terrific Mexican lunch of soup, salad and tamales! There was a huge cake.

And then it was back to work in the Chapter room; what an exceptional day it has been.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

One of the keys to a happy life is to pay attention to people and circumstances. Tripping obliviously along does not bode well for the spiritual life either.

But I don't always pay attention. Sometimes it is because I am tired. Other times I don't pay attention because what needs attending to is beyond my ken and unavailable to me.

For instance, Saturday I was returning from a short run and, relishing the golden sun on Mt. Sinai harbor, I decided it would be the perfect evening to inaugurate the canoe for this season. Br. Max was willing, so we wrestled the craft upside down onto our shoulders, hiding our heads, and bumbled like an enormous sow bug down the hill from Little Portion to the little bit of marsh which is our "beach." Cars slowed way down when they saw the four-legged green thing alongside the road.

We opted for the shortcut to the harbor, and blundered through sticker bushes, over fallen logs and through sharp bladed grass. Finally we reached the harbor.

"Uh-oh," said Max.

"What's wrong?" I asked peering from beneath the canoe.

"Tide's out."

"The tide?!" I stammered. "I never thought of that."

Being naturally impatient I tried to slog through the mud and grass to reach the water. Max held back, laughing. I sank up to my knees in viscous, odoriferous muck, only saving my shoes by clenching my toes tightly. I admitted defeat.

"But I am not carrying this thing back up the hill until we get out on the water," I vowed.

So we stashed the canoe in a bramble thicket, deciding that nobody would be inclined to grapple with it and the menacing vegetation. And if they were, they would be welcome to the boat.

Sunday Br. Derek announced: "High tide at 12:45." We were learning to pay attention to new things.

Unsurprisingly, the canoe was still there. We slid it easily into the water and glided out across the grasses to the open water--several feet above the muddy sea floor. There is a line in Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows" at the very beginning, when Water Rat says to Mole as they set out in a boat: "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing--absolutely nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing," he went on dreamily: "messing--about--in--boats; messing--" So begin their adventures and misadventures together. Reading them today I am reminded of the friars sometimes. But that line of Water Rat's has stayed with me from childhood. It expresses the epitome of pleasurable leisure.

So we paddled lazily, sometimes bumping into things, watching egrets, herons, ducks, geese and swans. Max saw a school of fish. We marveled at a jelly fish. We speculated on the happiness of the people who lived in the huge water-side mansions compared with ourselves in our canoe. Surprisingly (but why should it have been?), we knew some folks on one of the lobster boats and shouted greetings.

"Look at that!"

"Look at that over there!" we told each other. There was much to see and pay attention to.Sometimes being told to "pay attention" can be threatening or chastening. But as we prepare for Pentecost this Sunday, it can be an invitation too. Consider yourself invited to take note of the breath-taking beauty around you, unimagined riches right in our back yards.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

When I arrived late Monday evening, I pushed open the door of my room, to discover the unmade bed just as I left it in a rush in January. The half-full coffee cup on the bedside stand. The bathtowel at the foot of the bed.

No photos of that!!

A bit Dickensian: Miss Havisham came to mind. Since I left in winter the room had been left shut up tight, and the stale air reinforced the sense of possible spiders and dust everywhere. The only change was the presence of five huge packing boxes in the middle of the room: my drum, a favorite painting, a few books, and a suitcase of sweater and liturgical garments.

So Tuesday was devoted to unpacking, changing linens, getting organized.

Wednesday I washed windows: always try to reintegrate in friary life as quickly as possible!

The rest of the week has been bits of this and that. The highlight was the Confirmation of my friend Terry (she is the secretary at Little Portion). It was great fun going off to the Cathedral and standing next to her as the Bishop anointed her and said a prayer. I was full of memories of my confirmation. Was it 1971? My word. A former curate from our parish was my sponsor. I was extremely nervous and keyed up. In those days Confirmation was also First Communion. We'd gotten some pretty heavey duty instruction on the significance of it all. So when the moment came to receive Communion I was holding my breath. Trying to drink from the Chalice I coughed explosively, spraying myself and everyone else with wine. Which made me laugh with mortification, and earned me a lecture to take the Sacrament seriously from the Rector. What a memory. Terry survived the day with great aplomb.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Every Friday night the brothers go out with a team from St. John's parish in Sao Paulo to distribute food, water, dry socks and blankets to the homeless. Nine of us squeezed into a VW van, which was loaded with huge vats of soup, plastic bottles of water. we sat on folded blankets. They follow basically the same route in and around the neighborhood near the Anglican/Episcopal parish of St. John, stopping at every heap of refuse or muddle of blankets to shout "Good Evening!" Soon enough a beaming face would appear, and the team busily gave them basic survival supplies. Twice we were warned off with an expletive; but nobody blamed them--sleep is precious enough in a noisy place like Sao Paulo. The amazing thing to me was how delighted most of the people were to see us. One man wanted his picture taken with us. By 2:30 a.m. we'd given away all we had. We learned that other outreach teams have been visiting the same people; welcome news in one way, but it will mean a revised strategy.

Brothers are involved in direct service to the homeless in every SSF province around the world. Some are also involved in citizen's organizations that work to end poverty. In New Zealand I was asked if my vow of poverty meant I liked poor people to be poor. Far from it. Degrading poverty is a sin. Religious poverty is about radical sharing. At every meal I pray: "...and make us mindful of the needs of each other and the poor." Some people have challenged us about enabling addicts; we should be getting them to face the consequences of their actions and pushing them towards sobriety. Yes; but if they are dead from exposure or starvation, what is the good in that? In my own work with homeless people since 1983 I have learned that for every "hopeless case" there is another ready to do the necessary hard work to get out of the bind of homelessness. But you just can't tell which is the one when you first meet.

We got up at noon, and I was feeling drained by the crazy sleep schedule. Then the door bell rang and three of Br. James' friends from across the street swept us off for a meal. Laughing, teasing, joking. I felt I could have been in New York or San Francisco--just got to crack the code of their lingo. But the bond of friendship, the joy of giving and receiving brightened the day.

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About Me

I am the Minister General of the Society of St. Francis, a religious order for men in the Anglican Communion. I am an Episcopal priest and have lived, for the past 10 years in Mt. Sinai, Long Island, New York (www.s-s-f.org). Currently I spend nearly 10 months of the year traveling among the provinces of the Society of St. Francis

Something Old, Something New

The monks of the order of the Holy Cross at Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery in Grahamstown, SA, use a wonderful version of the Salve Regina:

Mary we hail you, Mother and Queen compassionate: Mary most holy, great and pure, we hail you. To you your children, members of Christ lift our voices. To you we sing praises that by your obedience you brought forth to us a Savior. Pray for us now, O our intercessor, that the grace of earnest repentance be given to us sinners. And may we, when our earthly sojourn has been ended, joy in Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb, O gentle, O tender, O gracious Virgin Mary.

Do It Anyway Prayer

1. The version found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa

Clark Kae Kae

Isn't he adorable? Named after me

Subjects for Prayer

My God, if it is true that you are everywherewhy am I so often elsewhere in my thoughts?

If you travel around the world, you will find traces of God;if you go into your own depths, you will find God himself.

Bose Monastery Welcome leaflet

A Table Prayer

For food in a worldwhere many walk in hunger,For faith in a worldwhere many walk in fear,For fellowship in a worldwhere many walk alone

We give you thanks, O Lord!

A Prayer from Taize

Christ Jesus, within us there is a silent longing. And when our inner being becomes dispersed, our thirsty heart dares to say: enable me to live from you, O Christ; gather up my desire and my thirst.

Pray for Peace

A Sign near the DMZ in Korea

A 14th Century Invitation

Come, come again, and again...Come, be you unbeliever, idolator or fire-worshiper...Our hearth is not the threshold of despair;Even if you have broken your vow of repentance a hundred times,come again

As seen on the London Underground

From The Prelude by William Wordsworth

Now free,Free as a bird to settle where I willWhat dwelling shall receive me? In what valeShall be my harbor? Underneath what groveShall I take up my home? And what clear streamShall with its murmur lull me into rest?

The earth is all before me. With a heartJoyous, nor scared at its own liberty,I look about, and should the chosen guideBe nothing better than a wandering cloud,I cannot miss my way.

Anglican Chaplaincy in Assisi

This is St. Leondard's church where Br. Thomas Anthony is Chaplain

Br. Geoffrey, First Minister General of SSF

"It seems to me St. Francis would have a great deal to say today about reverence for the land and the animal kingdom, for much is going on in the name of economic necessity which is little short of scandalous."

--Delivered to S.S.F. Chapter in mid 1970's

Matthew Fox's Thesis #64

"Love of life is everyone's daily task."

Greetings from New Zealand Archbishop

Warm greetings and peace.

On behalf of The Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia Te Hahi Mihinare ki Aotearoa, ki Niu Tireni, ki Nga Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa, I write to formally express the warmest of welcomes, on the occasion of your first visit to these islands as Minister General.

The Society of Saint Francis has been present in this Province for over 30 years and has endeared itself to the hearts of many, through the spirituality, compassion and solidarity of the Brothers. Friars have served as youth ministers, school chaplains, social workers, spiritual directors, retreat leaders, parish priests, social service agency directors, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to thousands of Maori and Pakeha New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders throughout this Church.

Through the presence of the First and Third Orders of The Society, we have come to know and be transformed by the example of Saint Francis. The Franciscan embodiment of the way of Christ is now firmly seeded, rooted and established in our hearts and lives. For this incalculable gift we are profoundly thankful to God.

The presence of The Friary of The Divine Compassion at the Waikato Christian Social Service Village, Te Ara Hou, bears witness to the on-going quality and commitment of The Society of Saint Francis in the South Pacific. In return the Brothers have won, once again, the profound affection and respect of this Church as they seek to witness Christ after the example of Saint Francis.

For all these reasons we are honoured by your visit and ask you to receive this small token of our gratitude for your time amongst us; the woven flax cross plaque of The Anglican church in this part of the world.

With warmest regards,

Yours in Christ,

+David Waikato

David J. MoxonBishop of WaikatoArchbishop of The New Zealand Dioceses

Presented April 21, 2008

Welcome to Papua New Guinea

First Order Brothers, Third Order Brothers and sisters and SSF Companions welcome me to Haruru in PNG

Welcome to the Solomon Islands

A Prayer from Taize

Holy Spirit, enable us to turn towards you at every moment. So often we forget that you dwell in us, you pray in us, and that you live in us. Your presence in us is trust and continual forgiveness.

A daily prayer for the struggle

The world has the means to end extreme poverty. We pray that we will have the will.

Words from Dr. King in honor of his birthday

If you cannot be a spruce tree on the top of a hight mountain, be at least a fertile blade of grass in the valley.

If you cannot be an oak tree, at least be a shrub.

If you are not a highway, be at least a viable pathway.

If you cannot be the sun, try to be a small star.

Endeavor to find out the secret plan that should structure your life, and adopt it as a practice.

Words of Wisdom

"We don't have to be "successful," only valuable. We don't have to make money, only a difference, and particularly in the lives society counts least and puts last."

from Credo,by William Sloane Coffin

For the Love of God

May the power of your love, O Lord, fiery and sweet as honey, so fill my heart as to withdraw it from all that is under heaven; and grant that I may be willing to die for love of your love as you died for love of mine.

The Absorbeat by St. Francis

A Prayer

Grant, Lord, that we, who have been redeemed from our unworthiness and made fit by Christ's sacrifice to share in his kingdom, may remember what we were and what we are, and may forgive as we have been forgiven; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

From the Australian Alternative Collets, 1985

A Franciscan Blessing

May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts. Amen.

May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that we may work for justice, freedom and peace. Amen.

May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that we may reach out our hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. Amen.

May God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.

And the blessing of God who Creates, Redeems and Sanctifies be upon us and all we love and pray for this day, and forever more. Amen.

I first heard this given by the late Jim Kelsey, Bishop of Northern Michigan and a great friend.